نشریه نامه انجمن حشره شناسی ایران
سال چهل و چهارم شماره 2 (پیاپی 98، تابستان 1403)

The order Orthoptera, including locusts, grasshoppers, mole crickets, crickets and bushcrickets, are generally herbivores. With large-scale and single-crop agriculture development, some locusts and grasshoppers appeared as pests and sometimes caused famine and crisis. The plateau of Iran is the origin of many cereal cultivars. Since some morphological characters, particularly the male internal genitalia in nymphs do not differentiate enough for confident diagnosis; the classical morphological identification of grasshoppers is largely based on the characteristics of adults. However, identifying the nymphs is very important in the field from the economic point of view, because most crop loss is due to the nymphal damage. Although accurate molecular determination is possible even in the egg stage, this technique is costly and specialized. Thus, providing cheaper and simpler approaches have rational perspectives. Our studies showed that some morphological features in nymphs could be practised at a genus-level field identification, none of the important grasshoppers related to wheat cultivation in Iran has apterism, and only the macroscopic characteristics of nymphs of two ages before maturity provide the necessary accuracy for field identification. Therefore, from 2019 through 2021, morphological characteristics of developing organs that could be informative for taxonomy in the late-stage nymphs were investigated in 362 nymphs belonging to 22 genera of 8 subfamilies out of 2 families. As a result, some 35 most conservative characters and 79 character-states were extracted. Afterwards, an illustrated key for field genus identification was prepared based on a sort of data. Education and extension of these filed identification outputs can avoid wasting time and money and lessen pollution of the environment with hazardous chemical agricultural pesticides before any control operation.

Trichogrammatid wasps are the most common natural enemies around the world used for biocontrol many important lepidoptran pests. Therefore, the availability of suitable storage methods for these parasitoids is valuable in biological control. In this study, the performance of Trichogramma brassicae reared on two different hosts and in two different cold storage periods was investigated. Wasp pupae formed on Ephestia kuehniella and Ectomyelois ceratoniae eggs, were kept in 10 ᵒC for 30 days and then in 4 ᵒC for 4 and 8 weeks. The effect of the treatment combinations on wasp's emergence rate, sex ratio and the number of female and male parasitoids in parental wasps (F0) and their progeny (F1) were estimated. In addition, adult wasp's shape (wingless and abnormality) and parasitism rate were investigated in parental wasps (F0) and their progeny (F1). The results of this study showed that emergence rate of T. brassicae in F0 was significantly influenced by the interaction between host and cold storage period. The highest and lowest emergence rate were respectively found on E. creatoniae in control and E. kuehniella in 8 weeks cold storage period. Sex ratio and the number of female parasitoids in F0 and F1 were significantly influenced either by host or cold storage period, whereas interactive effect of these factors did not affect significantly sex ratio and the number of females in both generations. Also, wingless and abnormality of wasps in F0 was not significantly influenced by any treatment combination. Parasitism rate of wasps reared on both hosts in F1, significantly decreased by increasing in cold storage duration. Finally, the results indicated that the most of qualitative characteristics of wasps grown on E. ceratoniae, were clearly better than those of wasps grown on E. kuehniella both in F0 and F1

A survey of the malaria vectors in an area is a critical component of an effective vector control strategy. This study aimed to investigate the malaria vectors in four communities of Southern Gombe, Northeastern Nigeria. A total of 3200 adult female Anopheles reared from larvae in the four communities from two Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Southern Gombe were identified. Anopheles pretoriensis were dominant 1662 (51.9%) followed by An. gambiae sl 868(27.1%), An. maculipalpis 267(8.3), An. rufipes 252(7.9) and An. coustani 10(0.3%), and the least were An. pharoensis 6(0.2%). The remaining 135(4.3%) were unidentified. Of the 262 An. gambiae sl identified by species-specific PCR method, 135(51.5%) were found to be An. coluzzi, 60(22.9%) An. gambiae and only 1(0.4%) was An. arabiensis whereas hybrid constitutes 16(6.1%). To determine significant differences in species composition, the results from the four study sites were pooled together. Anopheles pretoriensis was significantly different from all the other species identified (p = <0.0001 - 0.0454). An. gambiae sl. was significantly different from An. coustani and An. pharoensis (p = 0.0258, 0.0249 respectively). There was no significant difference between An. maculipalpis, An. rufipes, An. coustani and An. pharoensis (p = 0.9261 - >0.9999). There was a significant difference between the number of species identified as An. coluzzi and An. arabiensis (p = 0.0025). But there was no significant difference between An. coluzzi and An. gambiae (p = 0.1212).  The heterogeneity and sympatry of Anopheles species observed is a threat to malaria control as the secondary vectors have behaviour that evades the current vector control interventions. It is expedient to re-strategize the vector control interventions in the study area.

The present study is focused on the species belonging to the genus Maiestas Distant, 1917 (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae, Deltocephalini) in Iran, based on some specimens collected during 2016 to 2019 from Southeast Iran and species that have been previously reported: M. horvathi (Then, 1896), M. pruthii (Metcalf, 1967), M. schmidtgeni (Wagner, 1939), and M. trifasciata (Lindberg, 1954). M. pruthii, previously known from the Oriental region (India and Pakistan), is recorded for the first time in the Palaearctic region from Southeast Iran and M. horvathi is a new record for the fauna of Sistan and Baluchestan Province. An identification key and distribution maps for the Iranian Maiestas species are provided.

A new eriophyid species, Aceria resedae Lotfollahi sp. nov. was found on Reseda luteola L. (Resedaceae) during the survey of eriophyoid mite fauna of Maku county, West Azerbaijan province, Iran, on summer 2020. This is the first eriophyoid species found on the plants of the family Resedaceae and herein described and illustrated.

Biological control is a key component of Integrated Pest Management, however, the use of green lacewings as a biocontrol agent has not received much attention in Pakistan, although Chrysoperla carnea, a generalist predator against a variety of soft-sucking pests, has received much attention in Pakistan. Predatory insects always come out on top when it comes to biological pest control. In addition to minimizing losses caused by pests, applying biocontrol agents helps reduce the ecosystem from being affected by excessive chemical use. The present study proposes a new combination and confirms the newly recorded potential predatory species of green lacewings, Apertochrysa smitzi (Navás, 1914) comb. nov., found in Pakistan, belongs to the Apertochrysa venosa group based on male genitalia having gonocristae, which is only present in the A. venosa group. The diagnostic features of adult, as well as the photographs of dorsal habitus and genitalia, both male and female wings, and the complete life stages of A. smitzi are provided. We reared the larvae and adults of A. smitzi on the larval and nymphal stages of Sitotroga cerealella (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) and Pyrilla perpusilla (Hemiptera: Lophopidae), respectively, under controlled conditions. Apertochrysa smitzi is active most of the year and collected from sugarcane, wheat, and cotton crops from February to March, September and October. Both the larval stages and adults of A. smitzi were reared and released as a pest management tactic against various harmful sucking sugarcane insects for the first time in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

Application of insecticides against overwintered adults of Sunn pest has limitations. To find the new measurement against the insect, two insecticides imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam, were tested as seed treatments against overwintered adults of Sunn pest in semi-field and field conditions in Alborz province. This project was carried out in a split-plot design with planting dates at 3 levels (at the beginning of wheat cultivation in 2016, Nov. 7, mid- and late-dates in 2016, Nov. 20, and Dec. 4) as the main plots and seed treatments at 5 levels, including imidacloprid 700WS with two concentrations of 1 and 0.5 g/kg of wheat seed and thiamethoxam 350FS with two concentrations of 0.8 and 0.4 g/kg and control (without seed treatment) as the sub-plots. The comparison of the mean efficiency of treatments at different cultivation dates in the semi-field conditions showed that the lowest (9.1%) and the highest (71.66%) efficiencies were observed at the beginning and late cultivation dates, respectively. In seed treatments, thiamethoxam at high concentration had the maximum efficacy (84.4%) 48 days after the last planting date, and the minimum efficacy (5.55%) was related to thiamethoxam at low concentration 116 days after. The results of field conditions showed that the highest (15%) and lowest (1.25%) efficacies of seed treatments were 97 days after the last cultivation date. Thiamethoxam seed treatment at high concentration had the highest efficiency (21.6%) among the treatments at the first sampling date. On other sampling dates, the efficiency of all treatments was less than 10%. The seed treatment with imidacloprid and thiamethoxam did not have acceptable effectiveness against overwintered adults and nymphs of Sunn pest. Also, the change in the cultivation date of seed-treated wheat cannot be effective in reducing the overwintered adult population of Sunn pest.

One of the most serious pests of walnut trees in recent years in Kermanshah Province is the pear lace bug, Stephanitis pyri (F.) (Hemiptera: Tingidae). Damage of lace bug is not usually economic, but serious invasions can cause considerable damage or even death to the host. A field study was carried out to evaluate the fluctuations of S. pyri population on walnut trees in Kermanshah from January to December 2015.  Data were analyzed using Taylor’s power law and Iwao's patchiness regression methods to determine spatial distribution. In order to estimate the biological parameters of S. pyri in two different laboratory and semi-field conditions, the theory of age-stage two-sex life table was used. None of the life table parameters (r: intrinsic rate of natural increase; R0: net reproductive rate; λ: finite rate of increase; T: mean generation time; and, GRR: gross reproductive rate) in the laboratory conditions had a significant difference from the field conditions, and more than 70% of individuals successfully passed the pre-imaginal developmental stages. The pear lace bug overwintered as adult within weeds until late March; after that, they migrated to the walnut trees and distributed on the leaves. As a result, there was no significant relationship between the fluctuations of the pear lace bug population and changes in temperature or relative humidity. Spatial distribution of the pear lace bug population was determined based on both Taylor and Iwao regression methods of aggregated type.

Tunisian species belonging to Philanthus Fabricius, 1790, Philanthinus de Beaumont, 1949 and Pseudoscolia Radoszkowski, 1876 genera except Philanthus minor Kohl, 1891 and Philanthus soikai de Beaumont, 1961 are morphologically described and a key for their identification is provided. Morphological characters are illustrated by digital photos and map of distribution in Tunisia of each species is given.

There are 33 aphid species reported so far on Lamiaceae plants in Iran. In this research, a total of 19 aphid species belonging to 12 genera were collected on 20 host plant species. Furthermore, 33 associations between aphid species and host plants were recognized, of which six are new for Iran. Among the examined specimens, an Ovatus species collected on Mentha longifolia showed a complete range of intermediate biometric data of O. mentharius (van der Goot, 1913) and O. archangelskajae Kadyrbekov, 2008. In view of the biometric data from samples of Iran, we conclude that O. archangelskajae is a geographical variant of O. mentharius, therefore we consider it as a synonym for O. mentharius and redescribe O. mentharius as its morphological entities are extended. In this paper, the distribution of the aphid species in different parts of Iran is also presented and six new occurrences are reported for Fars and Kerman provinces. An identification key to the apterous viviparous female aphids living on Lamiaceae in Iran is provided.